


Untitled

by Necro_Floodwaters



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Library, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Like seriously slow, M/M, Modern AU, Pining, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, bad backstory, eventual angst, eventual pining, fear of failure, librarian caleb, slow to update too i apologize, translator caleb, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 02:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15159968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Necro_Floodwaters/pseuds/Necro_Floodwaters
Summary: Caleb Widogast works at the largest library in the city, a job he's incredibly thankful for. It's nothing but peaceful days, quiet work, and he's constantly surrounded by books. One day, he meets an interesting purple tiefling named Mollymauk Tealeaf, and suddenly his life isn't so quiet anymore. He gains a new group of friends and maybe even a relationship.





	Untitled

**Author's Note:**

> Necro: One, yes I did roast Molly. Two, don't forget to check out my Tumblr necro-floodwaters-fiction-inc. Three, yes, I'm aware it's long! Four, feel free to review! I want to keep updating, but I need motivation! Don't forget to check out my other works! Now enjoy! And real quick, this was, in part, inspired by the WidoMauk server! So this one's for you, my friends!

Caleb Widogast had never been more grateful for a job in his life. When he first left the hospital, five years ago, the only jobs he had been able to find were at fast food places as a cleaner or brief stints at coffee places as a barista. None of which lasted long or paid well enough to keep him or his roommate well-fed or well sheltered. And to be perfectly honest, he had fully expected that cycle to continue, with his roommate providing the bulk of the bill money. He never expected much to come of the application to the city’s library, Revelation Athenaeum, the building that housed the city’s largest collection of magical literature and tomes. It was something he’d done only because Nott, his goblin roommate, and adopted family, had encouraged it. For weeks. In fact, he’d been so certain of his rejection, he was halfway through the email asking him to come in for an interview before he realized it wasn’t another coffee shop. The curator had emailed him personally to express their interest in his application. Caleb almost refused. He well and truly did not think he deserved the honor of working at the Revelation Athenaeum. It was nothing he should be trusted with.

 

Nott, however, was having none of that. The moment he told her about the email, she was on him about it. For hours she insisted, gently, that he deserved to work somewhere that actually interested him and would likely treat him better than anywhere he’d previously been employed. Eventually, she wore him down and when he asked for her help in dressing up for his interview, she happily lent her assistance. It was the most professional he’d ever looked for an interview. Sure, he’d dressed up for an interview before. That was just something you did. But this time, there was _effort_ put into his appearance and it showed. Nott gave his beard a trim, a nerve-wracking experience for him since he’d seen how Nott usually handled a knife, and she produced a ribbon for him to tie back his long hair. He’d never seen the ribbon before, but he didn’t ask where it came from.

 

Needless to say, when the day came for him to pay a visit to the Revelation Athenaeum, Caleb was the most dressed up he’d ever been for an interview. And the most nervous he’d ever felt about _anything_ since the hospital. The curator greeted him personally and warmly. And, somehow, some way, he didn’t make the biggest fool of himself. His first day was Monday of next week and honestly, he only remembered that when he got home and had calmed down.

 

Now several weeks into his job, he couldn’t be happier with it. Most of his duties involved translating texts. He mostly handled the Zemnian tomes, but there were occasionally ones, old ones, written in Sylvan. It wasn’t something he needed to do often, since there were others that specialized in the Sylvan language and culture, but extra hands made the work go faster, especially when attached to someone fluent in the language.

 

However, on the slower days, when his help with the texts and tomes wasn’t needed or there just weren’t any to translate, Caleb manned the front desk. It was something he hadn’t intentionally been comfortable with, but as people came in to see what they had to offer, he realized that most were like him, interested in the arcane arts and just wanting to study in peace. Honestly, at times he would almost forget that he wasn’t alone in the building. The most he ever had to do while working the desk was direct people to the proper location of some book or scroll. Things were peaceful.

 

One day, as Caleb was manning the front desk, their loudest visitor yet, since he’d started working there, came in. In this case, however, loud did not refer to the volume at which this individual spoke or really any noise they made at all. No, in this case, ‘loud’ referred to their appearance. Caleb was more than used to tieflings. The city was full of them and he’d even worked with a few at his previous jobs. Some he might have counted as friends, if they’d hung out outside of work. And if he liked to hang out with others to begin with. But Caleb was _not_ used to this sort of tiefling. The person currently walking towards him defied sense, both fashion and common. Of course, he knew that tieflings came in all sorts of colors, so this person being a shade purple wasn’t terribly surprising. What was somewhat shocking to the eye was that they had taken their color to heart and wore as much of it, in as many shades, as was possible. And yet, it worked. Somehow this absolute beacon of purple and height of offense to anything fashionable, just made it work.

 

The tiefling smiled as they approached and leaned against the front desk as they said, “Hello darling.”

 

“Hallo, my name is Caleb. Welcome to the Revelation Athenaeum.”

 

“Pleasure to meet you, Caleb. I’m Mollymauk Tealeaf, Molly to my friends.” Mollymauk’s smile, somehow, grew even bigger. “I was just wandering about the town and I realized that I had _never_ been inside this place. What can you tell me about it?”

 

“Well, Mollymauk-”

 

“Molly.”

 

“What?”

 

“Please, call me Molly.”

 

Caleb didn’t quite understand that. The man had said he was ‘Molly’ to his friends. Caleb didn’t know this man. Never met him before. So why would he want Caleb to refer to him as ‘Molly’? Well, for now, it seemed harmless enough and he doubted he’d see the colorful man very much after that. “Very well, Molly. The Revelation Athenaeum is in charge of collecting and cataloging magical books, tomes, and scrolls. We also assisted magically gifted beings in researching their gifts.” It sounded scripted, even to Caleb’s ears. Mostly because it was. Caleb practiced it often, to the point that Nott had forbidden that he say it while she was home. She’d said something about hearing it in her dreams.

 

“Well, that sounds interesting. I don’t suppose I can get a look around at some of the books.”

 

“I don’t….see why not. We ah, have several tomes on public shelves.” Caleb replied, his eyes flicking over to the shelves that were stocked with books that were the product of his and other translators’ efforts.

 

“Excellent.” Mollymauk smiled. “What would you recommend I take a look at it?”

 

“Whatever your interests are. We have books on many things.” Caleb pointed at one of the shelves and said, “That shelf houses all of the uh….what is the word? _Illusionmagie_? You know, magic for making things seem like something else?”

 

“Illusions?”

 

“ _Ja_ , that is close to what I meant.” Caleb nodded. “You can look at any books on the shelves. Checking out, however, is limited to schools of the arcane arts.” And he was back to his scripted responses. “If you have any questions, feel free to ask me or whoever is on duty.”

 

“I’ll be sure to do just that, darling,” Mollymauk said, his smile playful as he turned to go investigate the shelves. Caleb untensed his body and took a deep breath. Mollymauk was an unusual sort for the Athenaeum. Most that came were quiet or preoccupied with their research. They simply found the right shelves, gathered their resources, and sat down at any table with a free seat. But Mollymauk was certainly something else. Caleb could already tell that the tiefling wasn’t there to research anything. If anything, he’d just seemed curious, as if he’d found something interesting to look at. In that respect, Caleb could agree. The Revelation Athenaeum was something behold, regardless of whether or not you had any interest in magic or reading. So, really thinking about it, Caleb wasn’t too surprised that it drew attention from the likes of Mollymauk. Either way though, Caleb was somewhat glad that the man had moved on. Now he could focus more on the book he’d brought, hidden from view by the design of the front desk, something he suspected was on purpose.

 

Caleb had gotten maybe a chapter and a half further into his book when someone cleared their throat over them. It was the most playful ‘ahem’ he’d ever heard and he had a feeling he knew who it was before he’d even marked his place and looked up. Sure enough, it was Mollymauk. “Yes, how may I help you?”

 

“I don’t suppose there’s an audiobook section? I find it a little difficult to sit and read.” Caleb looked inquisitively at Mollymauk as he stood from his seat and pointed at a group of shelves to the other side of the front desk. There were a surprising number of spots filled on the shelves. Surprising to Caleb, at any rate. He knew that most of the reading had been handled by his co-workers. So to see so many tapes and CDs filling the shelf was impressive.

 

“ _Ja_ , we have a large selection of many of the tomes that we have in print.”

 

“Thank you, Caleb.” Mollymauk turned to go, but Caleb stopped him, surprisingly, with an unbidden comment.

 

“Those are ah….available for check out, if you wish to take it home to listen to.” Since the audiobooks were, by comparison, much more easily replaced than their written counterparts, the Athenaeum allowed them to be borrowed.

 

“Excellent. And I suppose I see you about checking out an audiobook?” Caleb nodded, not sure if he trusted himself to speak again after that little outburst. Caleb didn’t do outbursts. “Wonderful. I’ll see you soon then, darling.” Caleb nodded again and Mollymauk graced him with his smile again before walking away to take a look at the audiobooks.

 

Caleb took a deep for the second time that day. Caleb _never_ spoke first, unless it was to greet people. That he _had_ to do, but he’d always only answered questions. Offering unasked for knowledge was for others. No, he was just fine sticking to his scripted responses and quietly reading his hidden book. No, when Mollymauk came back, he would just check him out and send him on his way.

 

Caleb didn’t have to wait long. Mollymauk returned soon enough, holding a CD case and smiling just as before. “I would like to check this one out if you don’t mind, darling.” He held the case out for Caleb, who grabbed it and the little wood block that acted as the check out scanner. From what he understood, the block was a bit of a joke from when the Athenaeum first opened, but all he knew was that it had quite the simple, but ingenious, spell on it that kept track of what left and with whom. He muttered the spell and the block glowed for a moment as he said Mollymauk’s full name and then he handed the case back to the intrigued tiefling. “Well, that’s a fascinating bit of magic.”

 

“ _Ja_ , it is. I have asked to study it before, but they only have one block.” What the hell was Caleb doing? He was offering up information about himself, regardless of how insignificant it was. If he wasn’t at work, he’d surely have crawled into a corner somewhere. “I hope you enjoy your book, Mollymauk.”

 

“Thank you, Caleb.” Mollymauk accepted the case and waved as he left, his tail flicking happily behind the tiefling’s back and Caleb couldn’t help but follow the movement with his eyes, right up until Mollymauk left.

 

Caleb sniffed, took another deep breath, and buried himself in his book, deciding that losing himself in his book was the best option for recovering from the sudden, and somewhat prolonged, social interaction. He did not help with the front desk for a few days after that.

**Author's Note:**

> MP: Hey, so Necro does enjoy writing and he will try to keep up with this, but your kudos and reviews really help keep him motivated. Even if it's a simple "I LOVE", it's appreciated. He gets ridiculously happy. Anyway, hope you enjoyed our work! Also, German is not something either of us knows, so if you know better words than what was used, let us know!


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